Human Personhood And Women

In our pursuit of state and federal constitutional protection for all human persons from the beginning of their biological development, we frequently hear that “the right for women to make private medical decisions regarding their reproductive health” will be jeopardized once human personhood is recognized by law. Most recently, this claim was made by Allyson Hagen of NARAL Pro-Choice Montana. It must be addressed head-on because it is so false and misleading.

What exactly is “reproductive health” anyway? Well, as opposed to the all-inclusive whole health of a human being, it seems that “reproductive health” deals only with a certain mechanism in the female body that can, if used in a certain way at a particular time of the month, give a nod to a preborn child. In other words, “reproductive health” is all about the ability of a female to get pregnant. That alone raises some questions:

Is pregnancy a disease?

Does birth control treat an illness? Or is it a recreational drug?

Are women safer now that they can ingest chemicals to fool their bodies and pay for surgical procedures that kill their babies?

NARAL and their ilk don’t address these questions. Shouldn’t they?

The completely natural state of being pregnant, or “with child” as we like to say, is understood by most people to be a temporary state that will culminate in the birth of a child. Nothing harmful there, right?

Well, not according to the proponents of “reproductive rights.” However, we must understand that all of their voiced and inferred platitudes are based on lies, because abortion itself is a lie.
It is abundantly clear that the “reproductive rights” crowd failed to mention a few things about the female and her personhood.

Let’s start with the fact that every female human being has a right to know exactly what is at stake if she ingests a chemical to have sexual relations (theoretically, without consequences) or chooses to pay someone to abort her own child. She deserves respect, honesty and integrity from those she confides in when seeking information or asking questions about matters that will impact her for the rest of her life.

Organizations such as NARAL, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and National Organization for Women always fail to point out that there is a proven link between abortion and breast cancer. There is also a similar link between chemical contraception and various forms of cancer. The proof is available, but not shared, if a woman happens to encounter someone who advocates “reproductive health.”

The woman featured in Ignatius Productions’ YouTube video makes it clear that “the destruction of my health would have had to have begun the day I entered an abortion clinic 11 years ago.” This is a real person, a human being, whose choices were never defined for her in terms of what might happen to her body, her mind and her soul if she chose abortion or used birth control. Yet this woman’s story is not front page news; nor will “reproductive rights” advocates make it a priority on their let’s-talk-about-your-choices agenda.

A second video, from Ends of the Earth Productions, features the facts about breast cancer, abortion and contraception. All of the information is documented, but apparently not of much interest to those who claim to be concerned about women’s reproductive rights or health. It’s not a stretch to figure out why, but let’s move on.

What about the pain of abortion? Isn’t it a fact that mothers who abort their children suffer post traumatic stress disorder? According to “Hidden pain: Politics suppresses the problems of many post-abortive women,” a recent article by Matt Anderson, a Minnesota-based obstetrician/gynecologist, the tragedy of post-abortion suffering is enormous. He writes,

Published, peer-reviewed studies from New Zealand, Australia, and the United States show a link between abortion and alcoholism, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety, among other less common negative effects. Personally, I can attest to the despair, depression, what-ifs, and regrets women have after induced abortion.…

Since abortionists and pro-abortion researchers have access to abortion patients and therefore do most research on abortion complications, the results are predictable. My residency program in OB/GYN had a large abortion service. They would send out a questionnaire to women who underwent an abortion and the doctors doing their post-abortion visit, asking questions about complications. It came as no surprise to me that those wearing the "Keep Abortion Safe and Legal" buttons—the ones who collated the data—always found few complications.

When the fox guarding the hen house says all the hens are just fine, what do you think?

The politics of abortion advocacy has tainted medical research and medical researchers into claiming safety and no long-term adverse mental effects for a procedure that takes a pre-born human life. Excellent studies contradict their conclusions, conclusions that fundamentally lack the ring of truth. If you doubt that abortion causes long-term negative effects on women and think the APA is right, try asking a post-abortive woman, "How do you feel about your abortion?"

These mothers deserve our respect, consolation and the full truth. They do not deserve lies, half truths, innuendo and political gobbledygook. While that may occur when she visits her OB/GYN to talk about a discomfort she is experiencing or a problem she is having, it does not occur when she is getting guidance from a “reproductive rights” advocate.

On the one hand, these people claim that passage of a state or federal human personhood amendment will jeopardize women. On the other hand, they are jeopardizing women and their human personhood on a daily basis. Financial gain and political power mean more to these hypocrites than the human personhood of the woman they claim to care about so desperately, so passionately and yet so dishonestly. But let’s move on.

Think about the woman who is sexually violated by rape or incest and her baby, should she become pregnant. What of her human personhood and that of her child? Such a subject is never discussed in polite company. Yet as one woman’s story confirms, even on this subject, “reproductive rights” advocates are behind the eight ball.

Juda Myers is a lovely woman who was conceived in rape. Today, she has a ministry that reaches out to others who are suffering. As her web site states,

Forgiveness in any case is attainable! Destiny, filled with purpose and potential waits for each of us through the one who created us. Knowing Jesus Christ personally will guarantee that life of purpose and joy indescribable. If you're miserable and life isn't worth living, there is a solution.

Juda’s story, and her birth mother’s courage, are presented for one and all to see, hear and absorb. Yet those who advocate for abortion in these situations would dismiss Juda’s witness by ignoring the truth about the tragedy that can be avoided when one affirms human personhood for both mother and child.

There are myriad reasons why proponents of “reproductive rights” will not tell the truth. And it has nothing to do with good health. Even when dealing with underage females — human persons who are still developing emotionally, physically and intellectually — these harbingers of death are not honest. If they were, Planned Parenthood would not be running morning-after pill and birth control pill clinical trials involving 13-year-old girls, would they? If Planned Parenthood respected the human personhood of these young women, every effort would be made to affirm their self-respect rather than abuse their bodies with chemical assault weapons.

Clearly, the bottom line with “reproductive health/rights” advocates, who consistently call foul when human personhood is discussed, is money, political influence and public confusion. The actual facts and honest defense of human personhood, including that of their female client base, is the farthest thing from their minds.

It’s up to us to make sure we confidently and unapologetically affirm everyone’s human personhood, especially for the women in our midst who have become a meal ticket for far too many with a vested interest in death and human destruction.